


Missile Tow

by jitters



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Compliant, Christmas fic, M/M, Post-Canon, mistletoe fic!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:47:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21934696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jitters/pseuds/jitters
Summary: Somewhere between the jealousy and anxiety, Sora gives himself a challenge his entire Christmas experience depends on.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 150





	Missile Tow

**Author's Note:**

> no idea how much re:mind is gonna hyuck up the context we have for kh3 ending so uh just take this absolute fluff monster and let's not ask questions

Sora’s been staring at Riku lately.

Sora can’t say when it started, or what in particular acted as a catalyst for it, but what he does know is that more often than he’s able to keep track of, he catches himself with his gaze fixed on Riku for periods of time that are too long for him not to be suspicious. 

Riku’s appearance hasn’t changed; not in any ways significant enough for Sora not to recognize him, but he can’t help but see him so differently, now that his heart is so much freer than it’s ever been. Sora has heard before from teachers that beauty from the inside shines outward, but he never knew how true it was until Riku’s heart mysteriously began shining so much that he looks better than Sora had ever imagined he’d be.

It’s as if Riku’s glowing, lately. Sora knows he’s imagining this much, but he can’t help but notice how all light seems to gather around him every time he enters a room, bright enough to stave off any darkness. And when he smiles — oh when he  _ smiles  _ — Sora could swear the temperature raises too. It’s the only way he could explain the way it makes his face warm every time.

Whatever the magic behind it, Sora is certain — Riku is handsome.

This realization wouldn’t be a problem, were it not for the fact that everyone else seems to have noticed too.

  
  


In this particular instance, Sora has lost himself in thought, taking in new information through observation, while he sits in their usual spot and eats lunch with his friends on their last day of class before Christmas.

“And then she offered to let me spend the night at her place--” Kairi’s voice says somewhere. 

Sora’s eyes are a distance away, watching as Riku takes three times as long to buy his lunch as they did because girls can’t seem to stop interrupting him and asking him to sit with them. He turns them all down, but it doesn’t deter them. It never does; this is the third day in a row they’ve watched this happen. If Sora isn’t mistaken, it might have something to do with the way Riku rolls up the sleeves of his uniform to his elbows now — there’s something cool about it that Sora knows he could never pull off like Riku does.

“They’re shameless, aren’t there?” Tidus laughs, almost mockingly, but Sora is far from fully registering the context.

From this far away, he can’t be sure, but Sora can just imagine Riku’s soft voice when he turns them down. He always seems genuinely apologetic, but Sora experiences an undefinable sense of joy, of victory, knowing Riku’s never been tempted to sit with anyone but them. 

“Sora?” Kairi’s voice says again, and Sora’s head turns toward her slightly, on reflex, but his eyes and attention haven’t quite pulled away yet, curiously enthralled as Riku, in his discomfort, pulls at his tie and loosens it. The girl next to him shamelessly — he’ll steal Tidus’ word here — lays her hand on Riku’s bare forearm, and he laughs, pulling away, but Sora can see the tint in his cheeks. For some reason, it makes him scrunch his eyebrows judgmentally. 

“Oh gosh, I’ll just go get him,” Selphie’s voice cuts through, and Sora is broken from his trance when she stands up next to him and skips over to where Riku is, taking his arm in hers and touching it even more than Riku’s classmates had been. “I’ll be taking him now!” Selphie says, and the part of Sora that is relieved for Riku to be saved from the bothersome distractions is fighting against an unexpected part of him, that focuses in on Selphie’s fingers curling around Riku’s arm and tightens his jaw.

“You alright, Sora?” Kairi asks, and he finally turns all the way towards her, reassured by her friendly and comforting expression, so he smiles at her and releases the tightness in his shoulders he didn’t realize he was clenching.

He nods, but he doesn’t miss how Selphie follows Riku when he sits down on the floor across from them, folding her legs over to the side so she can lean her weight against Riku’s shoulders. It’s not as if Riku’s encouraging her, but he isn’t pushing her away either, and though Sora feels guilty for it immediately, he kind of wishes he would.

“What’s it like, Riku?” Tidus throws across the group. “Y’know, having girls all over you all the time.”

Selphie bats her eyelashes at him, and Riku clears his throat, using the arm she’s leaning on to help himself to his lunch so she can’t do so as aggressively. “Uh, flattering?” Riku laughs, but it’s not convincing. “Kind of annoying though.”

“Annoying!?” Tidus points a utensil at him. “You got all pretty and now you’re living every guy’s dream, man!”

Riku hesitates, looking down at his food, where he smiles to himself in a way that wouldn’t even be noticeable were Sora not focusing in so closely. “Nah,” Riku shakes his head. “That’s not what I dream about.”

When his gaze comes back up, Sora’s unprepared for how easily their eyes find each other, sharing a secret only the two of them know. Riku bites back his lips as if to punish his smile, looking away as he scratches his cheek with an index finger, and Sora’s head falls to the side, taking in the gesture and wondering if there’s more to Riku’s smile than what he already knows.

“Well, I’m just glad Riku’s smart enough to stick with us,” Sora brags, throwing the trash left from his lunch into the bin nearby, arms folding behind his head as his usual satisfied grin takes over any other expression he was finding himself falling victim to.

“What are you showing off for?” Riku teases, looking right at him without hesitation, and suddenly feeling relieved, Sora smiles ear to ear and shrugs.  


Later, Sora walks home with Riku and Kairi on either side of him, telling them all about the snacks his mom is preparing for his Christmas party and listing off the friends all over the worlds he wants to invite, even if they can’t come. The energy changes though, when the path towards Kairi’s home comes first, and the two of them are left alone the rest of the way. Riku doesn’t seem affected, school bag flung over his shoulder and stride unchanged. He seems to favor one of his legs these days, and Sora has become mindful of keeping his speed in check and staying on the lookout for signs of distress, but Riku seems so unbothered, so at peace, and Sora can’t hold back his smile, looking up at Riku as he walks next to him and mentally thanking the sun for always keeping Riku illuminated like this.

“Whoa, look out,” Riku says just in time, grabbing Sora by the shoulder and holding him back to keep him from stepping into a puddle, and he’s surprisingly gentle when he pulls Sora over toward himself, and Sora takes great satisfaction in the way Riku’s arm settles around his shoulders — even if it is just incidental. “You okay? You seem kinda out of it today.”

“I’m great,” Sora says on reflex, without a beat to spare between their words. “I’m just...really glad you’re coming to the party, that’s all.”

“I’ve gone every year since we met,” Riku reminds him, stepping to the side to put a reasonable distance between them, and Sora misses the contact instantly, making a point of side-stepping close enough so their shoulders occasionally bump as they walk.

“This time is different!” Sora defends excitedly. “This is the first time I’ll have friends from other worlds here for it. Some of them have never experienced Christmas before…”

Riku nods, but he does raise a curious eyebrow. “Right. What does that have to do with me though?” He nudges Sora’s side with his elbow.

“Well there’s no point if you’re not there,” Sora blurts out too easily, and his cheeks feel warmer, his stomach lighter, but he doesn’t want to take it back. “So you’d better come or else we’ll have to cancel and a lot of people will be disappointed!”

To Sora’s delight, that makes Riku break into warm laughter, his steps uneven so their arms brush each other by accident, and he scratches his cheek with his finger again, a gesture Sora is beginning to become curious about. “Yes, sir,” Riku shakes his head, bag dropping to his side as they come to the road where they separate, and he readies to turn down his own street.

“Hey Riku,” Sora stops him, and Riku turns around halfway, looking over his shoulder curiously. The sun is behind him, not quite setting, but low enough in the sky that it creates a halo of light around his head.

Sora finds himself staring again. He’s never considered himself a genius or anything, but in this moment he feels like a chunk of his brain cells have gone on vacation and he’s struggling to make up the difference. He’s always tried to look cool in front of Riku, but the jealousy has subsided, and Sora can no longer think of a reason why he’d have to try so hard. 

But he still feels compelled to. Turning his back to Riku, he assumes the position he always does when he puts on airs like this, arms behind his head and his foot tucked in front of him. “You knoooooow,” he drags out. “There’s gonna be mistletoe this year.”

“Y-yeah?” Riku stutters, and Sora realizes all too quickly that he has no concrete idea of where he’s going with this.

“Uh, yeah!” he pretends anyway, fully confident he can figure it out as he goes. “We’re not kids anymore, and a lot of our friends are even older, so...it seems like fun.”

“Right,” Riku says, and his cheeks appear reddened, making Sora wish with all his might that he could read Riku’s mind too. But he can’t, and so he’s left wondering why Riku seems to tense up, his fist clenching, and his eyes avoiding Sora’s at all costs, even if only briefly.

“I knew it,” he says firmly. “There’s someone you’re thinking of using it with, isn’t there?”

Riku’s eyes shoot towards Sora in surprise, mouth parted, but Sora doesn’t give him a chance to speak, giving him a cheeky salute and taking off towards his house, wondering what the hell he’s doing and where in the worlds he’s going to get some mistletoe. 

It’s after a straight hour of “research” that Sora realizes mistletoe does not grow in a tropical climate, a panicked phone call to Kairi is luckily the perfect remedy. She does tease him a little, for thinking he could get mistletoe from their island in the first place, but she is also the one smart enough to suggest a delivery from Santa Claus himself. Sora thinks that’s an even trade.

He’s about to hang up, vibrating with excitement over getting to talk to Santa again, but Kairi’s quick to put a stop to that.

“Do you really need to set up this kind of chance to kiss Riku though?” She teases with a small, knowing smile, and Sora drops his Gummiphone on the spot, catching only a glimpse of her face on the screen as it tumbles out of his sweaty palms and onto the floor, where he dives to catch it — and stays there.

“Why would you say that!” He whines defensively, hands clutching his phone with his stomach pressed to the carpet of his room. “I didn’t even say I was going to use it!”

“Of course,” Kairi smiles, eyes closed, accepting Sora’s answer more easily than he would’ve expected her to when they were younger. “Well, if we’re introducing a lot of our friends to Christmas for the first time, it would be nice to include as many of the traditions as possible.”

“Exactly!” Sora agrees, too enthusiastic over something so simple. “Roxas and Namine, and Xion too! They deserve the full experience!”   
  
“Mm,” she agrees, but Sora can see she’s still thinking too hard for her to be completely innocent, so he holds out until she can’t hold it in anymore, and she leans closer, like she’s telling a secret. “But Riku will be there. There’s a chance you could end up under it together.”

Sora can’t help it. It only takes the mere suggestion of it for his mind to fill in the details, and behind his thoughtful expression, his imagination plays for him what that could look like; Sora waiting under the mistletoe and trying to act as calm as possible until Riku eventually crosses his path. Even in his imagination, Sora struggles to play it off as casually as he wants to, showing how awful his acting skills are as he points up at the mistletoe and waggles his eyebrows. In this fantasy, it’s Sora who leans in for the kiss, but in reality he shakes it off before he makes contact, caught with red ears by Kairi’s curious eyes in their video call.

“Well?” She says, as if she’d seen everything — thank gods she didn’t.

“Well nothing!” he says, exasperated, scratching one of his warm ears and letting out a heavy sigh, unsure why he’s even fighting it. “I dunno. Yeah. Maybe. It would be fine.” Kairi waits, and Sora caves further. “Okay, so it would probably be really nice.”

“I think you’ve caught some of Riku’s anxiousness,” She says, and Sora’s pretty certain she’s not smiling this time, but he’s trying so hard to hide his warm cheeks that he can’t be sure if his eyes can be trusted.

“Maybe,” he agrees, voice muffled by his hands. “Follow my heart, right? So if I want to go under the mistletoe with Riku, I should just do it…”

“Hey, I should go,” she says after a brief pause, and Sora looks up to see her getting ready to sign off. “I’m in charge of baked goods, right? I should get a head start.”

“Oh, yeah…” Sora doesn’t fight it, knowing Kairi is difficult to stop once she’s on a mission. “Y’know you could just buy some cookies at the store.”

“No way!” She answers, seeming to imitate him. “It’s like you said, our friends deserve the authenticity, right?”

“Yeah,” he smiles, and gives her a wave through the screen. “Thanks, Kairi.”

As soon as he hangs up, Sora does something he hasn’t done since he was a child, and hand-writes and addresses a letter to Santa Claus.

  
  


The entire day before the party, Sora spends making his house look as traditionally “Christmas” as possible, enlisting both his parents and Riku and Kairi’s help to get it all done in time. Kairi has provided all the baked goods, something she took upon herself even after Sora had tried to claim the job, because Sora may or may not have started a smile fire while trying to make a practice batch of cookies. They both join Sora’s mom in decorating the inside of the house, including the miniature fake Christmas tree Sora insisted on using as the centerpiece of the snack table. 

Outside, Riku helps Sora’s father decorate the roof with fake snow and lights; Sora would have been happy to help, but he couldn’t do much to argue when his father had chosen Riku by default. Just looking at him, it’s easy enough to understand.

And look he does, stealing glances out the window as Riku takes trips up and down the window, and Sora sits in the kitchen decorating all of their treats with a Christmas theme, whether they be sweet or savory, and there’s a nostalgic feeling in the air when the Christmas music playlist starts up and Kairi slides into the seat next to him, helping herself to a handful of a salty snack mix and following Sora’s gaze every time it wanders out the window.

“Are you jealous?” Kairi asks him, lightly bumping his shoulder with hers as she munches with her other hand delicately placed onto her knee. 

“Huh?!” Sora sits up defensively, mind having wandered. “Of who? Selphie’s not even here yet.”

Kairi’s eyes soften and her smile tightens, but she snickers. “I meant because Riku’s still taking the more physical jobs,” she explains, her now empty hand falling to join the other on her knees. Her fingers join together there, and Sora wonders why she seems to be keeping them to herself more than normal. “I don’t think Selphie has a chance with Riku, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Why would I--” Sora starts defensively, but Kairi’s expression is as soft as it always is, nothing confrontational about her words or posture either; she’s not judging, so what is he feeling defensive for? Letting his shoulders fall with his sigh, Sora nods. “What makes you so sure? She...likes him, doesn’t she?”

“Sora, she always has,” Kairi laughs, less shy now. “She’s just more obvious about it now that he’s so…” She gropes for words.

“Popular?” Sora finishes for her. “I’ve noticed… But hey, I could be popular too if I were all big and strong and cool and handsome like Riku is.” 

“I think you’re all of those things,” Kairi says, voice quieter, but Sora still catches it. “If Riku felt the same way, I’m sure he would have responded by now.”

He can’t argue with the logic. Riku has never dated anyone as far as Sora knows, but if he liked Selphie he’d have no reason not to go for it already when she’s so attached. But Riku doesn’t even seem to acknowledge it. He feels a selfish kind of joy because of that, and only a tiny bit of guilt for it. 

In fact, it energizes him, and with Kairi’s help, they’re finished within minutes, just in time for Riku to come through the door, with Terra, Ventus, and Aqua in tow.

“You’re early!” he says, and disappears into the closet to fish out a large pile of Christmas sweaters, ranging from cute to festive, to disastrously ugly, and one by one he passes them out to every person in the room, making certain to extend a specific one to Terra that is much larger than the rest.

“Sora,” Aqua laughs, hiding her mouth behind her fist. “It’s warm outside, are you sure about this?”

“Oh, he’s sure,” Riku interjects, resting his elbow on Sora’s shoulder. “This guy made sure to turn the A/C on in advance just so we’d all wear these.”

“Just enough for us to be comfortable!” Sora insists, swatting Riku’s arm away and poking him in the side, a prodding that Riku returns, and Ventus interrupts their laughter to walk between them and approach Kairi with his sweater in hand.

“Want to trade? I like the reindeer,” he smiles, and Kairi returns it, wordlessly handing off her sweater without even checking which one she’d ended up with, and she joins everyone else in pulling their sweaters over their clothes. 

The rest, Sora leaves in a pile by the floor so everyone will make sure to take one when they arrive, and he eagerly shows the trio all around his house, where they’ve set up the main room for eating and socializing, with music playing and lights and decorations in every corner. In a side room, there’s a Christmas movie marathon playing on the TV with comfortable chairs, blankets, and various games to play should anyone decide to. The upper level, he’s blocked off, to keep everyone out of his room and away from his parents.   


He’s just finishing the tour, when another round of visitors surround the front door, including Donald, Mickey, Goofy, with Namine and Ienzo in their party. Riku’s face lights up when he sees this group in particular, and Sora though he can’t explain it, he hesitates to greet them, standing still where he is on the other side of the room.

It doesn’t matter though, because Riku doesn’t take long to jog over and do it himself, as if it were his party, and as happy as it makes Sora to see Riku smiling and laughing as soon as he joins them, Sora’s smile is sour, every time his eyes land on Namine. He does manage to shake this faint feeling jealousy off by the time his friends approach him wearing their sweaters, tackling Donald and Goofy in a hug so enthusiastic they’d have fallen over were they not so accustomed to it. 

In the chaos, Selphie and Tidus sneak in the open front door, and after Kairi gets them into sweaters of their own, both of them make a beeline for Riku, and Sora briefly wonders if he’ll even get a chance alone with him, mistletoe or not.

“Say, Sora…” calls a familiar gentle voice, and Sora is thankful to find Kairi at his side again, even if she is wearing a wrinkled, concerned brow. “I got all the drinks you asked me too, but why did you get this alcoholic one?”

Before Sora can answer, there’s a loud commotion at the door, and in walk the entire Twilight Town gang, with Lea at the tail end of the line, who bursts in with a hollered, “Remember me?”

Sora chuckles and pats Kairi’s shoulder, “That’s why.”

  
  


Once Sora has all his friends in their ugly Christmas sweaters, he does another short tour and takes a moment to praise Kairi and Riku for their help with all the decorating, something that causes them both to shy away from such direct acknowledgement. When all of them are together, it’s easy for everyone to get into a party mood, and Sora does not take for granted that never has to know what it feels like for his friends not to get along anymore.

Notably, he finds himself smiling when Selphie and Tidus find familiarity befriending fellow normal students Hayner, Pence, and Olette, and Sora finds himself listening in on their conversations as they get to know each other, lingering at the snack table in an uncharacteristically quiet mood.

“Do you miss it?” comes a voice from above, and Sora locks eyes with Riku as he pours himself a serving of eggnog. “You know,” he gestures to the developing fivesome. “Being normal?”

The idea of being normal never crossed his mind; just as the idea of being anything but normal never had either. Sora looks at them for a thoughtful moment and shakes his head. “Nah. You?”

Riku smirks, but it’s not quite joyful. “I guess I never felt like I was normal in the first place. If anything, I feel more normal now.”

“You’re not normal at all!” Sora says teasingly, and though he almost spills Riku’s drink when he throws an arm around his shoulders, he doesn’t get any protest out of him.

Instead, Riku laughs, and it’s so close to Sora’s ear that he can feel it turning red. “What’s that supposed to mean!” Riku asks. Sora doesn’t want to pull away.

“By normal you mean ordinary, right?” Sora attempts to find the best words. “Well, you’re definitely not that. You’re extraordinary.”

“Well…” Riku clears his throat, and if Sora’s not imagining things again, he’s also blushing as deeply as Sora’s ears are. “Thanks.”

Sora grins, teeth bared, and his eyes zoom in on the space above their heads. This would’ve been a perfect mistletoe moment, and Sora still doesn’t have any. “Aw man,” Sora says out loud, and Riku gives him a curious look.

“Too slow for me to tell you that you’re extraordinary too?” Riku jokes, making a guess at what Sora’s thinking. But he’s far from accurate, and so the compliment comes as a surprise, and suddenly Sora’s ears are burning.

“I just have to check something,” he excuses himself, pulling his arm back to his side and making his way to the front door, where he looks out the windows anxiously and checks the time on his Gummiphone. Not too late, but late enough.   
  
When Sora looks back, the spot next to Riku has been occupied by Namine, and Sora’s feet won’t move. He tries not to stare, he really does, but every time she smiles, Sora waits to see if Riku smiles back. He always does.

It makes his stomach twist, and he tries to hurry past them without being stopped, barely offering Namine a wave when she tries to get his attention.

  
  
  


Sora puts it out of his mind for a while, getting lost in a series of games with Xion, Roxas, and Ventus, most of which he ends up making up rules for because they haven’t heard of them anyway and Riku isn’t around to keep him on track of any rule book.

In the main room, Lea and Aqua have similarly lost themselves in slightly tipsy karaoke with a large and enthusiastic audience, and it’s no surprise to Sora when Riku and Namine enter their game room looking for a quieter kind of fun.

But seeing them together makes his stomach twist again, and though Namine’s smile is bright and eager when she looks directly at Sora to ask if she can join, he can’t help it; he offers up his own spot and leaves the room with a half-truth excuse that he wants to be up next in karaoke.

In actuality, he hangs by the front door again, tapping his foot when he looks out the window and still sees nothing, watching as the minutes tick further on the clock and wondering if he should give up on the mistletoe altogether. He did ask Santa for help last-minute after all.

He’s about to head back and sing his heart out as a distraction, when he ends up face-to-face with Namine, alone this time, and looking downtrodden. 

“Hi, Sora,” she says, voice even tinier than he remembered. “Is everything...okay?”

“Uh…” Sora looks behind her, wondering if Riku’s listening nearby, but over he shoulder he sees Riku having a quiet conversation in the corner with Mickey instead. Curious. “I’m just...waiting for a package,” he gives.

“I see…” Namine’s hands hide behind her back, and even Sora can see how visibly uncomfortable she is, shoulders tense and words escaping her. “What about between you and I?” 

Sora blinks. “Huh? What?” She can’t mean…

“Maybe I imagined it,” she smiles sadly, in a way Sora recognizes as borrowed from Kairi’s expression repertoire. 

She is very pretty, Sora can’t deny that. She’s kind and feminine, and she has passion and grace. Sora can see why guys would like her. Why Riku likes her. 

“Are you mad at me?” Namine’s voice shakes, interrupting his thoughts. “You’ve been avoiding me ever since I arrived.”

“Of course not!” Sora says, so loud even he knows it was overkill, and the duet between Goofy and Donald happening behind them is the only thing loud enough to drown it out. Thank gods. Sora takes her hands in his, shaking his head and huffing a frustrated sigh. “Sorry, Namine. It’s not like that. I just thought...you and Riku would want to be left alone.”

Namine returns the hold on her hands, thankful for the warmth it brings her skin. But her smile wavers. “Why would Riku and I want to be alone?”

Oh no. Does she not return Riku’s feelings? Sure, Sora may have a vested interest that conflicts, but he’d never want Riku to get his heart broken.

“Riku...likes you, doesn’t he?” Sora asks her, leaving it open-ended for her to take it however she may, but Sora has a strong idea in mind.

Namine takes in a breath of surprise, looking back over her shoulder and pulling back her hands, nervously covering her mouth with one and holding the other near her chest. “Did he say that?”

“Nah,” Sora replies, unintentionally flippant. “You just seem to get along.”

Namine laughs so softly that Sora almost misses it, and her smile is infectious, leaving him to mirror it even though he isn’t so confident. Namine shakes her head and places one hand over the other in front of her, “We’re friends,” she says simply. “We’ve helped each other at important moments. But he has never been my priority, nor I his.”

Sora lets himself slump into the nearest chair, exasperated. “So I was worried for nothing? And I accidentally hurt you…”

“Oh, it’s okay,” Namine shakes her head, and she kneels down next to him. “I understand now. I’m honored you think I am a suitable match for your Riku,” she chuckles, and it’s the closest to a happy noise he’s ever heard from her.

“My Riku?” he laughs back, though it’s not as cheery, his embarrassment levels too high already, and he shyly rubs the back of his neck. “I wish.”

He’s certain he said those last words in his head, but Namine’s eyes widen, as does her smile, and she reaches for Sora’s arm. “You truly do?”   
  
Why Namine would be happy about this is a mystery to him, but Sora feels encouraged by it nonetheless, and he shrugs. “I’ll let you in on a secret if you promise not to make fun of me,” he winces, and Namine mimes tying her mouth shut into a bow. “Well...I kinda sent a letter to Santa asking for him to deliver mistletoe at the party tonight.”

“Mistletoe!” Namine exclaims, her hands clasping together. “Just for Riku? I never knew you had such a romantic side.”

“Hey, keep it a secret okay!” Sora exclaims back, forcing a whisper even though his volume far surpasses one. Of course, she nods, and Sora relaxes. “What if it doesn’t come, though?”

Namine looks down and appears to giggle behind her palm. “I’m certain you’ll think of something else,” she assures him, and with a pat on her head, she tiptoes away. Sora watches with a sense of pride as she links arms with Kairi near the snack table, and knows in his heart he’s extremely lucky to have both of them.

  
  


He’d intentionally started the party as late as possible while being reasonable; wanting to give Santa plenty of time to show up without going out of his way, but as the minutes pass, Sora loses hope that he’ll ever get his Christmas wish. Most of the attendees have settled in front of the tv, cuddling up and getting comfortable watching movies until they eventually fall asleep, and only Lea, Isa, Terra, Aqua, and Riku are left in the main room, gathered around the fake fireplace that Lea had at some point managed to light for real and having conversations Sora would probably envy if he were to allow himself to join in.  
  
At this point, he’s past being anxious, past checking the time. Every second of the party has been worth every ounce of effort he put into it, and normally he’d be bursting with joy, but as he looks around at his friends having fun and looking photo-worthy in their sweaters, Sora feels even more disappointed that the one piece he’d promised Riku didn’t make it.

Sure, he could take Kairi’s advice and go for a kiss without one, but there’s a security blanket that comes with the mistletoe — if things go wrong, if Riku doesn’t want him, doesn’t return those feelings, Sora would have the excuse handy that it was all for the sake of tradition and it meant nothing. Riku might believe him. But without that excuse? Sora would feel like he’s running into battle without any defense.

He isn’t sure how long he’s been sulking, but it must have been too long, because Riku is looking at him with a familiar worry in his eyes, and Sora tries to shake off the worried face of his own, to no avail. Despite the reason, he’s comforted as Riku follows when Sora slumps onto the stairs, their bodies close as the space is just barely big enough for the both of them now that Riku’s grown so much wider. After a moment, Riku’s still silent, and Sora scrunches his face, eyes focusing on Riku’s side profile, and the peaceful expression on his face.

“Is...everything okay?” Sora asks, angling towards him, his conveniently terrible posture leaning him in closer than he intended.

“With me?” Riku asks, glancing at Sora briefly. “Yeah. With you? Doesn’t seem like it.”

He says nothing else, and Sora’s confusion is far from dwindling. “Uh...you’re not gonna ask what it is?”

Riku smiles to himself, and Sora almost feels better from that alone. “You’ll tell me when you want to. Just making sure I’m here when that happens.”

Sora stills. Has Riku always been this in tune with his feelings, or is Sora just hyper aware of it these days? Regardless of which it is, it gives Sora goosebumps. He may not have conquered his anxieties yet, but maybe the mistletoe was stupid after all. “I just…” he starts, looking forward along with Riku and allowing himself to feel happy with their legs touch. “I thought something was going to happen tonight that didn’t. So I guess I’m a little disappointed.”

Riku chuckles, and leans back onto one of his elbows, angled towards Sora with admiration in his eyes. “The mistletoe, right? It’s alright. You threw a fun party without it.”

Riku’s voice is warm, and as calm as he is about it, with no idea why Sora was so concerned about it, still manages to give Sora some relief. But only some. “It’s...too bad you didn’t get to kiss Namine though,” he articulates, the weight of each word hitting him harder than Riku.

Riku, who blinks at him, bumping his head against the railing when he’s taken aback — literally — by the accusation. “I don’t… Why would I want to kiss Namine?”

“You really don’t like her?” Sora furthers, questioning Riku’s logic more than his own.

“No way,” Riku says so easily, that Sora is mysteriously relieved, but surprised by how flatly Riku was able to answer. But then he stutters, “I mean, I like her a lot. But not, you know… I don’t, that.”

Sora smiles unconsciously, even more pleased by that information than he would have expected himself to be, and on reflex he brushes the tip of his nose with his knuckle. “Okay,” he says, trying not to appear eager. “It still could’ve been a fun addition. I might’ve used it…”

Riku’s energy darkens, something Sora feels intrinsically. “With Kairi, right?”

“No,” Sora replies as straightforward as Riku had, and even feels confident enough to borrow his words. “I don’t... _ that _ , with Kairi either.”

Riku blinks in silent disbelief. “You’re kidding…” his voice shakes and cracks at the same time. He looks  _ happy _ , eyes bright and heart lighter, and all Sora can bring himself to think is  _ please let me be the reason why _ .

Riku looks ready to speak, deep breath in and shoulders pulled back, and Sora holds his breath, thinking that Kairi must’ve been right after all and he never needed the mistletoe as an excuse to make a move, but Christmas seems to have other plans for him, and there’s a crash from above, and noises that sound like heavy footsteps on his rooftop. 

As quickly as his instincts move him, Riku’s keyblade is out in one hand and his other arm is protectively stretched out in front of Sora to cover him. It’s just quiet enough that no one else seems to have heard it, and Sora doesn’t imagine there’s anything truly worth worrying about, but he can feel Riku’s heart racing and see the steel-strong focus in his eyes.

“It’s okay, Riku,” Sora offers, attempting to comfort him by bringing both his hands up to wrap around Riku’s arm against his chest. “It’s probably just an animal.”

“Probably…” Riku agrees half-heartedly, swiftly on his feet and approaching the front door with his muscles tense in every limb. “I’m going to check it out.”

“I’ll come with you,” Sora chimes in without a second thought, stretching out his hand to summon his keyblade, but Riku is quick to turn towards him and rest his hand on top of Sora’s to stop him.

“Please, just let me,” he requests, looking into Sora’s eyes with urgency. “I know you’re fine, just…” Riku’s hand softens, gripping Sora’s in an unorthodox but nonetheless tender hold. “I need a little more time before I can even think of losing you again.”

Sora wrinkles his brow, overwhelmingly touched but knowing with certainty that he’s overreacting. “But Riku, there’s really nothing dangerous about--”

“Please,” Riku pleads in a gentle voice. Sora’s hand drops, but Riku keeps his hold on it for a few seconds after, his eyes unmoving, until Sora nods. “Thanks.”

Riku disappears out the front door with his keyblade out, and though Sora keeps his agreement and doesn’t follow, he does listen with his ear to the door. He doesn’t hear a thing through it, listening to nothing but the wood in one ear and the party chatter in the other for a moment, wondering how long it could possibly take to confirm there isn’t any danger.

After a few minutes, Sora hears the footsteps again, more of them this time, followed by a banging sound and the whoosh of either the wind or some powerful magic. When Riku doesn’t immediately return, Sora understands exactly what Riku had been feeling moments ago and is out the door with it slamming behind him within seconds. 

“Riku!” he calls the second his feet hit the outside, and he’s just seconds before summoning his weapon, only halted by Riku’s voice answering him from above. Sora takes a parkour trip up to the roof, where he finds Riku sitting, staring at the sky with bewilderment in his eyes that Sora has never seen in him before. “Riku…?”

“Sora, I’m sorry…” he says, and Sora approaches with caution, settling down next to Riku with his legs crossed and hands fiddling with his shoelaces. 

“For what?”

“For not believing you,” To Sora’s relief, Riku laughs, reaching to his other side and retrieving a box with a Christmas bow and placing it in Sora’s lap. “Santa Claus...told me to give this to you.”

Sora stares, both at the box and at Riku, looking between them a few times before he laughs too. “I told you he was real!” he says with every bit of smugness he can muster. “Should I open it?”

“Go for it,” Riku nods, checking his watch for good measure. “It’s after midnight anyway, so Merry Christmas?”

Sora already has an idea of what’s inside, if it’s from Santa himself, but his heart is still racing, not having expected to receive it while already alone with the person he’d imagined himself under it with. Thankfully, Riku isn’t spying, and Sora takes in the sight of a headband with mistletoe hanging off the front of it. He knew he could count on Santa. What he wasn’t counting on was the card left inside, with a secret message. Sora thinks back on his letter and remembers the ‘P.S.’ he’d left on his request, where he’d asked Santa to grant Riku’s Christmas wishes too.

After reading the short message, Sora reaches into the box and puts on the headband, bouncing the mistletoe in front of his face a few times before he works up the courage to tap Riku on the shoulder. When he does, they’re face to face, mistletoe hanging above Sora’s head in the air between them, and Sora can feel the exact second their heartbeats seem to sync up.

“Sora…” is all Riku says, surprised but by no means running away. Sora holds strong, and doesn’t say a word.

He imagined this a handful of ways throughout the day, and all the different things he could say to convince Riku to take part, but when the moment comes, he doesn’t have to; it’s Riku, who makes the move Sora had been so badly wanting from him. Only it’s even more perfect than his imagination had led him to believe, when Riku’s knuckles brush across his cheek so tenderly that Sora’s entire body gets chills, and every second it takes Riku to close the distance seems like a minute all its own, and Sora keeps his eyes open to look into Riku’s until the very second their lips meet, and Sora feels more electricity than thundaga has ever granted him.

Riku is one of the strongest people Sora knows, but he kisses him so softly that each second lasts forever in the best way possible, and Sora feels weaker and weaker under Riku’s hand, his thumb caressing Sora’s cheek while his knuckles gently drag along his jawline; even that is nothing compared to how Sora’s heart responds to Riku’s lips on his like they’re connected, and after what feels like a grand trip to another world, Riku puts some distance between them and opens his eyes.

“Wow…” is all he says.

“Double wow,” Sora sighs, eyes fluttering open more slowly, and when he locks eyes with Riku again, they both can’t stop smiling. “You know, you were my wish too,” he says, and Riku blinks himself out of his daze.

“Huh? How did you--”

Sora cuts him off, showing him the card Santa had left for him, where he’d written exactly that. Smug, Sora reaches for Riku’s hand and threads their fingers together, reveling in the moment and planting a kiss on the back of Riku’s hand before resting his chin on it and smirking, “Told ya Santa was real.”

Annoyed but laughing, Riku reaches for Sora’s side and tickles it so he leans over, giving Riku opportunity to snatch the headband from Sora’s head and put it on his own, closing his eyes and waiting with his own smug grin for Sora to return the favor.

Sora pauses, taking in the sight and taking mental photographs of it, but seeing how beautiful Riku looks, sitting there waiting eager for Sora to  _ kiss him _ , he’s more confident than ever. Carefully, he removes the headband altogether, and then takes Riku’s face in both of his hands. “Merry Christmas, Riku,” he whispers, and pulls Riku into a tender kiss, wishing he’d listened to the friends who’d told him he never needed an excuse to feel this extraordinary.


End file.
